Versatile platform for broadband wireless system design and prototyping using software defined radio methodology

Abstract

The present invention relates to software defined radio (SDR) based wireless communication platform and, in particular, to a wireless communication system platform adapted for software defined radio methodology which would provide for a development platform for software defined radio implementation favouring programmability at the baseband and RF sections. Advantageously the system of the invention favours appropriate communication technique to match the environment and specifications of the user and supports a selective manner of up-converting the baseband signal which avoids the need for any sideband rejection filter at the RF output section thereby making the system also simple and cost-effective.

1 . A wireless communication system platform adapted for Software Defined Radio (SDR) methodology comprising:
 a) transmitting system comprising of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with embedded software, an analog to digital converter, a digital to analog converter, a radio frequency up-conversion circuit and antenna, all operatively connected to constitute a wireless communication transmitter adapted for operational characteristics based on the software embedded FPGA;   b) receiving system comprising of a radio frequency down conversion circuit, an analog to digital conversion circuit, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with embedded software, all operatively connected to constitute a wireless communication receiving system with selective operational characteristics from a multitude options to match the techniques adapted at the transmitter based on the software embedded FPGA;   
       said transmitting system and said receiving system adapted for programmability at the baseband and RF sections and providing for said development platform adapted to selectively combine the Field Programmable Gate Array, the analog module comprising of an analog digital converter, digital to analog converter and the radio frequency circuit adapted to perform frequency up conversion or down conversion and amplify the signal strength for complete wireless communication system re-configurable and adaptive for a software defined radio. 
     
     
         2 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . A wireless communication system platform according to  claim 1  wherein the said transmitting system is adapted to perform the essential operation of a broadband wireless transmitting system wherein various subsystem preferably selected from source encoding subsystem, data encryption sub-system, data interleaving sub system, error correction coding sub system, data formatting sub system, and a multiplicity of digital modulation subsystems and other operations provided in the form of software modules which are controlled by the master control software module thus offering multiple ways of transmitting digital data into the air interface by using the combination of the hardware comprising of said FPGA, analog module, the radio frequency up-conversion circuit and the antenna. 
     
     
         18 . A wireless communication system platform according to  claim 17  wherein the digital modulation sub-system comprises a multiplicity of modulation techniques preferably selected from frequency shift keying, amplitude shift keying, binary phase shift keying, quaternary phase shift keying, 8 phase shift keying, 8 quadrature amplitude modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing provided as embedded modules which are selected adaptively by either the user or a master controller software module to match the transmitting and receiving environments. 
     
     
         19 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 1  wherein said receiving system is adapted to perform the essential receiver signal processing functions which comprises of downconverting the received signal to low frequency region for processing in an FPGA, converting the analog signal to a digital signal and the various sub-system of the receiver such as de-modulation subsystem, synchronization subsystem, decryption subsystem, error correction decoding subsystem, source decoding subsystem and an interface to the user provided in the form of embedded software modules thereby providing multiple ways of receiving the radio signal transmitted by the transmitter. 
     
     
         20 . A Wireless communication system according to  claim 19  wherein the de-modulation subsystem comprises said FPGA having embedded software modules adapted for recovering data from the modulation technique such as frequency shift keying, amplitude shift keying, binary phase shift keying, quaternary phase shift keying, 8 phase shift keying, 8 quadrature amplitude modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing and also provide for the timing synchronization, carrier frequency and phase offset correction and other essential signal processing to enhance the received signal integrity and to reduce the number of the errors in the decoded data such as automatic gain control, noise limiting filter and the related technique as expected in a high performance wireless communication system. 
     
     
         21 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 20  wherein the said separate hardware modules including Field Programmable Gate Array, analog module and the radio frequency circuit are seamlessly connected and the functionality and operational characteristics are controlled by a master control software module in said FPGA. 
     
     
         22 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 21  comprising a master control software module adapted to control the operations of the FPGA based processor, the analog module and the radio frequency board from a single interface and enable the selection of the radio frequency channels, radio frequency transmitted power thereby providing a re-configurable radio frequency circuit which is controllable by the user. 
     
     
         23 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 22  adapted to upconvert the baseband signal to radio frequency signal by generating the sum of in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) component within the based band and the sum signal thus generated and its 90° phase shifted version adapted to be fed to the RF section whereby one of the side bands of the output is highly attenuated. 
     
     
         24 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 23  wherein the up-converted signal is fed to an appropriate antenna to match the transmitting frequency. 
     
     
         25 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 17  wherein the subsystem in the transmitting unit are embedded as software module and adapted to be selectively operated either manually to predetermined mode of operation or adapted to selectively match the environment and requirements of communication link. 
     
     
         26 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 25  wherein for manual control a set of manual controlled are provided externally. 
     
     
         27 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 25  wherein for said selective adaptability to match the environment and the requirement of communication link is completed by the master controlled software module and the said transmitter and receiver are adapted to determine the type of communication technique to set the channel of the transmission link. 
     
     
         28 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 27  wherein the subsystems present as software modules in the receiver is adapted to match the operative performance in the transmitter. 
     
     
         29 . A wireless communication system according to  claim 28  wherein the received signal is synchronized by a digital Costas loop.